The Chinese Mission in Ghana has served a strong caution to the Government of Ghana that “it will be extremely harmful to the bilateral relations” between the two countries if there are reports of a casualty during the arrest of Chinese involved in illegal mining in Ghana.
The Mission said government must minimize the mass arrest of illegal miners and deal with culprits on individual basis.
“We think it is very important that any operation against illegal mining should be carried out in line with Ghanaian laws and international recognized norms, the mass arrest and media hype should be minimized, the cases should be dealt with on individual base and the legitimate rights of the miners should be respected,” it said.
The Mission argued that some of the Chinese illegal miners were also victims of fraud and blackmail hence their cases must be holistically looked at by government before taking action.
Anti-galamsey taskforce dragging away an Asian believed to be involved in galamsey
“Since a great part of Chinese nationals involved in illegal mining are also victims of fraud and blackmail, if casualties are incurred and plundering and looting take place during operation, it will be extremely harmful to the bilateral relations,” it said.
In a letter addressed to the Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, John Peter Amewu, the Mission chastised the media for its coverage on illegal mining in the country, accusing it of being biase and defaming Chinese leaders.
“There are a number of distorted or biased reports and stories on Chinese people, especially some reports and cartoons that are defaming Chinese leaders and senior officials. The Chinese side is very concerned about this unhealthy tendency. We hope that the Ghanaian government will pay due attention to this situation, take the necessary action to stop such things from happening again and guide the media to give an objective coverage on the illegal mining issue so as to create a good environment for further development of our bilateral exchanges and cooperation,” the letter said.
By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana
The Mission said government must minimize the mass arrest of illegal miners and deal with culprits on individual basis.
“We think it is very important that any operation against illegal mining should be carried out in line with Ghanaian laws and international recognized norms, the mass arrest and media hype should be minimized, the cases should be dealt with on individual base and the legitimate rights of the miners should be respected,” it said.
The Mission argued that some of the Chinese illegal miners were also victims of fraud and blackmail hence their cases must be holistically looked at by government before taking action.
Anti-galamsey taskforce dragging away an Asian believed to be involved in galamsey
“Since a great part of Chinese nationals involved in illegal mining are also victims of fraud and blackmail, if casualties are incurred and plundering and looting take place during operation, it will be extremely harmful to the bilateral relations,” it said.
In a letter addressed to the Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, John Peter Amewu, the Mission chastised the media for its coverage on illegal mining in the country, accusing it of being biase and defaming Chinese leaders.
“There are a number of distorted or biased reports and stories on Chinese people, especially some reports and cartoons that are defaming Chinese leaders and senior officials. The Chinese side is very concerned about this unhealthy tendency. We hope that the Ghanaian government will pay due attention to this situation, take the necessary action to stop such things from happening again and guide the media to give an objective coverage on the illegal mining issue so as to create a good environment for further development of our bilateral exchanges and cooperation,” the letter said.
By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana
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